From John Malkovich's Portal to the Septic Tank

If you'd let people in an ad agency re-do their work every time you'd experience déjà vu, nothing would ever get done.  It seems like everything’s been done before.  The best they could do is take Jim Jarmusch’s advice:

“Select only things to steal from that speak directly to your soul.  If you do this, your work (and theft) will be authentic.  Authenticity is invaluable; originality is nonexistent.  And don’t bother concealing your thievery.  Celebrate it if you feel like it.”

But is it really the same with the movies where Jarmusch comes from?  In Europe, I don’t think originality is a problem.  There’s nothing like an Almodovar film.  The Cannes winner The White Ribbon was also unfamiliar territory.  In Hollywood, it gets harder.  I can only think of two wildly original U.S. releases, and they came out in the 90s: There’s Something About Mary (1998) and Being John Malkovich (1999).  Mary was gross, raunchy, infantile, politically incorrect, romantic, musical, physical and very, very funny.  Have you ever seen a movie before where a whole sequence was devoted to wad on the hair?

Being John Malkovich – tell me if you’ve even remotely heard of this idea.  A jobless puppeteer (John Cusack) is married to an ugly pet-store employee (Cameron Diaz) who wants to go transgender.  Cusack eventually gets a job as a clerk and develops a crush on a hot co-worker (Catherine Keener).  Their office is on the 7 ½ floor that has a very low ceiling. On the same floor, Cusack discovers a portal that leads to the mind of John Malkovich the actor.  For 15 minutes he can see and sense whatever Malkovich does before he suddenly gets thrown into a ditch.  He and Keener then sell the 15-minute Malkovich trip for $200.  Things get crazier when Cameron goes into Malkovich’s head and woos Cusack’s crush.  The portal goes to an unborn child.  Old people use it to prolong their life.  Even Charlie Sheen as Charlie Sheen joins in.

Interestingly, Malkovich was done by a first-time director, Spike Jonze.  He’s done two other movies since – Adaptation and Where the Wild Things Are.  The first remains his best.  What is it about first-time directors creating memorable debuts?  Is it the passion and the excitement spent on a long-time pet project?  Maybe it’s the desire to stand out by being original.

In the Philippines, we’ve found our Spike Jonze.  It’s Marlon Rivera.  His first film, Babae sa Septic Tank, is on its second weekend.  Catch it.  Just when other Pinoy directors are desperately trying to be authentic with their thievery of the theme of poverty, Rivera mocks it.

We hope to see more original stuff from Rivera soon.